On September 23, 2003, People For the American Way sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee stating its opposition to the confirmation of Judge Charles W. Pickering to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. As the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded last year, Pickering’s troubling record does not warrant his elevation to a lifetime position on the court of appeals.

California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown, one of President Bush’s most recent nominees to the federal appeals court, has a record of ideological extremism and aggressive judicial activism that makes her unfit to serve on the appeals court, according to a an in-depth analysis of her record released today by People For the American Way and the NAACP.

Recent assertions by Sen. Orrin Hatch, Committee for Justice founder C. Boyden Gray, and other Bush administration allies that there was no real filibuster against the Supreme Court nomination of Abe Fortas in 1968 are clearly and demonstrably false.

People For the American Way strongly opposes the nominations of Brett Kavanaugh and Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Once again, President Bush has nominated individuals who embrace an extreme right-wing judicial philosophy. Sadly, President Bush has yet again chosen confrontation over bipartisan consultation when making nominations to powerful lifetime positions on the federal courts.

On July 17, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor to the United States Court of Appeal for the Eleventh Circuit. The June 11 confirmation hearing for 11th Circuit nominee Bill Pryor did not shed much new light on Pryor’s already well-documented ideological extremism, but it did underscore that he is unfit for a lifetime seat on the federal appeals court. Senators must reject his confirmation.